


Simply meant to be

by indecisivemess



Series: Aro/Ace solidarity cuz I said so [2]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Aromantic Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Asexual Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, But in an adorable way tho, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders is Extra, Cuddles, Fluff, I'm here to offer the representation that i wanna see, Im leaving the feelings up for interpretation, Nightmare Before Christmas References, Romance is confusing, Sleepovers, This is pure fluff yall, Virgil's eyeshadow is purple through most of this, You cant pry these hcs from my gay hands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:40:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27819913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/indecisivemess/pseuds/indecisivemess
Summary: "Lilac still framed his eyes, so it didn’t seem like the emo had gotten uncomfortable over being caught doing a nice thing, but it was still very much a questionable action. Roman most likely even mentioned it, an innocently sleepy “what are you doing?”, and that’s when the sleepover was brought up. As a playful excuse for the prince to be allowed to have more pillows.Needleless to say, Roman couldn’t pay attention to the movie much after that."
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders
Series: Aro/Ace solidarity cuz I said so [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2035504
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19





	Simply meant to be

**Author's Note:**

> You dont need to read the first work of this to get this one, since it only has a few points of contact, but to summarize it, on my other work, these two idiots are best friends, due to the general occurrences of the vids bringing them closer, both are out to each other and both are very chill about the other's identity. And yes, I'm aroace, so this will, hopefully, be cute and accurate. 
> 
> (To my 18+ peeps, can someone explain to me how sleepovers can be seen as anything other than literal sleeping together? I genuinely cant understand how someone can get horny over someone wanting to *literally sleep* on the same bed/their general premises. There's so many fics where sleepovers go steaming so quickly and ???)

Roman had always fantasized about how a sleepover could go. There was just so many amazing adventures that could fall under it- he barely knew half of the words that it would take to describe them all! But none of the other sides had ever let him into their rooms when he had plans to make his dream a reality, so he supposed he had forgotten about all the potential that that small spark of raw happiness contained.

Until he accidentally stayed over at Virgil’s, that is.

Which, somehow, evolved into sleepovers occurring every other week.

The fanciful side would never complain about finally being given what he wanted, or, at least he wouldn’t complain _much,_ but he genuinely had no idea how he had survived that very first time it happened. Virgil had been the one to suggest for the prince to stay, mumbles about how they still had a lot of movies to go through slipping between the easy conversation flowing and Roman, in all of his precious ignorance, couldn’t see what could be suspicious about such request. Anxiety had an impressive collection tucked away from direct eyesight, one that the prince had rapidly and thoroughly become invested in, so the royal wouldn’t mind sacrificing a few hours of sleep in exchange for a peek at some of the titles, more so with consent of the owner now!

Yes, Virgil turned a bit of an anxious mess after he excitedly agreed to stay, but c’mon, he’s _always_ anxious. How was he supposed to know it was something new this time?!

It only truly dawned over the prince’s head that perhaps this had been Anxiety’s way of asking for a sleepover when the other discreetly tried to summon more pillows to accommodate for them both.

The fanciful side had been way too engrossed by the movie playing in the dark room to fully understand what had happened, assuming Virgil had only gotten a little peckish as the faint little whoosh of his powers blended in with the ambience, but then he was moving, carefully shifting closer to Roman to push a fluffy pillow being his back, and the royal couldn’t help but hold his gaze for a confused moment as soon as he felt it.

Lilac still framed his eyes, so it didn’t seem like the emo had gotten uncomfortable over being caught doing a nice thing, but it was still very much a questionable action. Roman most likely even mentioned it, an innocently sleepy “what are you doing?”, and that’s when the sleepover was brought up. As a playful excuse for the prince to be allowed to have more pillows.

Needleless to say, Roman couldn’t pay attention to the movie much after that. Virgil had gone back to his spot, eyes centered on the lit screen across the room, and didn’t appear as nervous as the prince would expect after such a weird little interaction, and it only stroke him that the reason for that was because _he_ himself was too nervous to fully process what was happening around him.

Getting so caught up with being offered a back rest didn’t seem like a very princely reaction, specially once he noticed the happy little flips his heart was doing over the general comfort of the situation, and on that moment, the royal genuinely wished for something- anything that could cease the sudden warm feelings spreading across his body.

Virgil falling asleep next to him hadn’t been on his list of ideas, if he were to be completely honest, but perhaps it had been one of the most efficient. Roman only noticed after a quick glance in the way of the former dark side, to prove that Anxiety wasn’t, in fact, staring at him like he had embarrassingly assumed.

Part of him was glad to be here to witness it, however. How his eyeshadow lightened ever so slightly while he slept. How the artificial light of the television and all of the colors pouring from the movie blended together to come cast a magnificent glow upon Virgil’s gentle skin. How his calm, quiet breathing and relaxed posture could instantly convince anyone that there was still good in this world, or otherwise, Anxiety would not be allowed to rest like this.

Roman had wished to touch him.

It was such a foreign, fleeting longing when compared to most of his impulsive, rough affections, and yet, it hadn’t surprised him at all. Like his heart had been prepared to accept the feeling long before it came about.

The gentle smile was expertly drawn upon his lips, to be allowed to match the fond look he had projected onto Virgil.

Just the mere thought that the emo felt safe enough around him, that he trusted Roman to protect his integrity and well-being while he ventured off into dreamland; it flooded the royal with bright, golden pride, made him honored to declare himself as a faithful knight, ready to serve and defend the other.

Thankfully, Creativity fell asleep not too long after that as well, curled up against the couch in the general direction where Virgil rested, or he’d surely have summoned something to write on, to allow the flow of his thoughts to be transformed into poetry about fair skin and purple locks.

Roman never brought up the emotions he had felt that day – there didn’t seem to exist a valid reason for such a thing -, and Virgil would, surprisingly, be the one to take the step forward and ask him to hang out most of the time now; perhaps exactly because he didn’t know about such emotions.

Although, there were days where the prince could see it. The heavy wrinkles around his eyes, the slouched posture and hands hidden in pockets, not simply for the coolness of it. Virgil was still Anxiety after all. On those moments, he’d sit farther away from Roman when they crossed paths, but still close by, close enough for the fanciful side to strike up conversation and fill the silence for hours if necessary. Virgil would scoff and roll his eyes, not being much of a contribution besides those interventions, but deep down, not only was he paying close attention to every word Roman dramatically flaunted, but he was also giving him permission to distract him from his thoughts, to keep him company despite the storm inside his head.

Virgil would usually fall asleep in the middle of his flamboyant rants. Roman was still not quite sure how that was possible, given that he got quite... excited when he was allowed to speak so freely, but that happened, nonetheless. He had taken offense to it, at first, interpretating his unconscious state as a proof of his boring ventures, but as the prince let his insecurities slowly drop down, there came a series of realizations. Perhaps he hadn’t rested well the previous night, or he had been shook awake by terrible nightmares.

The fact that he trusted Roman so deeply either way always caught the royal off guard, in the moments that followed Virgil’s soft breathing.

Multiple times he had considered if it would be polite to carry him back to his room. In a sense, Roman could predict that the other would appreciate to be in his safe space while sleeping, or so he had convinced himself while frantically shoving down the pictures of his regal aura incarnated, majestically carrying his prince back to his quarters. Virgil definitely would _not_ enjoy those comparisons, but he couldn’t help it!

Thankfully, the emo would always wake up by the time his thoughts started to venture into that sort of territory.

They were becoming crowed inside of him, all of these gentle, warm feelings. If Roman didn’t know better, he’d say that he was falling in love with Virgil, but he knew that couldn’t be the case. And not in the sense that he was in denial about it. He accepted these emotions willingly, like an honorable knight would. That still didn’t erase the fact that he was aware how these mushy, sugar filled ideas would be perceived by the other. And Roman couldn’t risk a minimal chance of losing his best friend now, so those were going to stay hidden deep down in a little corner just behind his heart until they disappeared. Like the rest of his feelings in general.

His plans went a bit south on their next sleepover.

They were watching Youtube videos this time, some sort of animated series Virgil had found out, and while Roman had playfully teased him about it at first, he could see why the anxious side would be interested in the soft, soothing colors of the animation, and the interesting and unique art style. It was relaxing, in an unconventional sort of way that Anxiety would probably indulge in private, instead of showing it so freely like this. It was adorable beyond relief.

And like with most things, the two of them seemed to be enjoying this piece of media in slightly different ways, but wasn’t that what made this moment so special? Being able to sit just a few inches away from Virgil, holding his phone for the both of them to be able to watch the tiny screen, view a whole new world from an incredibly new perspective.

At some point, the prince started craving something. What it was in specific, he wasn’t sure. But while he was thoroughly enjoying their shared time together, his body had not been made to stay still for so long, and given that there wasn’t much commentary to be made about this show, that itch between his joints was becoming unbearable alarmingly quickly.

\- Okay! – he finally snapped, startling his friend a bit. – I need to stretch my legs. Do you want something from the kitchen?

Virgil promptly paused the video, and did his best to not look interested in joining him.

\- Just bring me whatever you’re getting. Erh, if you’re grabbing food.

\- That I am!

Anxiety’s little confirmations were always so endearing, bubbling quiet laughter out of him whenever Roman was out of his sight. He didn’t think he’d ever get tired of them.

It was halfway through waiting for the microwave to cook the popcorn inside of it when all those feelings he had been hiding away overflowed, his fanciful heart taking the boring and lonely opportunity as perfect timing for storage control. The only downside to that was that every part of Roman’s body simply forgot to give him the memo that that was happening, and the prince was left in the middle of the kitchen with a pounding heart and a warm face, the sudden intensity of it all freaking him out a little.

Oh, who am I kidding, it freaked him out _a lot_.

His infinitely warm hands over his burning cheeks did little to muffle down their redness, and the storm of confusion was rapidly energizing his body with atypical nervousness, so before he knew it, Roman was embarrassingly pacing around the kitchen, the steady buzzing of the microwave working on the background mocking him.

Thomas felt love, romantic love, and that had always been the _only_ way for Roman to feel it too. Only through him, when the butterflies became so many it seemed like they were going to throw them all up, when their palms became annoyingly sticky with sweat and everything trembled slightly from the sudden rush of adrenaline. None of his feelings quite matched up with those, but they weren’t platonic either, and the sudden realization that this was all terrifyingly new threw the prince into a bigger panic.

Roman couldn’t quite decide whether to thank the microwave for scaring him out of it or curse it for eternity over the loud, undignified squeak that it ripped out of the prince’s throat.

The moment that followed the screaming was stressfully embarrassing, despite the fanciful side being more than aware that no one else was around to witness it, so he occupied his mind with searching for a bowl where to put the finished buttered up corns of goodness, purposefully ignoring the shortness of breath as he finally found one.

There was a slight tremble to his hands, left over anxiety from the forced realizations of his heart, and Roman couldn’t stand such a display of weakness for much longer, not even before himself, taking the time to focus on curling his hands into fists and taking an exaggeratedly deep breath, feeling some of the tension leaving his shoulders as he expelled the negativity out of him. Noticing that he still had some control over his actions comforted him slightly, bringing a small, gentle smile to his lips.

From the safety of his room, Virgil was starting to get somewhat concerned, however. There was no way a single bowl of popcorn could take this long to make, and he had heard the faint noise of the microwave going off downstairs some time ago now, so the horrible list of worst-case scenarios was quickly assaulting his mind before he could stop it. Going to go check on Roman it was then.

The emo was feeling quite lazy to move away from his bed, so he only put on the effort to sink out, plopping back up just a few steps away from the kitchen so he didn’t scare Roman, or whoever attacker that could be there with him, and carefully approached the door, shoulders hunched forward and hands ready to punch a treat if necessary.

The last thing that he expected was the soft sound of humming that reached his ears.

It was quiet enough that it only confused Virgil at first, encouraging him to step closer to the door to hear it better, and by the time the cool white lighting of the kitchen hit his eyes, he could hear Roman quietly humming to himself, a music filled with nostalgia and conflicting emotions. It froze the anxious side on the spot, making him stand in the doorway as he simply stared at the idiotic prince in front of him, playing with the empty bag of popcorn in the equally empty kitchen. Rather, ripping tiny little strips of the paper that wasn’t oiled up, to the sound of the tune he was mumbling about, and Virgil was actually impressed about how cute the whole picture was presented. The last thing that he had been expecting was to find Roman all hunched over the counter, destroying something that was fairly gross and uninteresting, but he made it work somehow, tying it all together with the fond expression he was wearing, seemingly oblivious to the world.

Princey must have sensed it though, the intense staring, and slowly turned around. Virgil barely had the time to process that he shouldn’t have been just standing there, only now catching up to how creepy that was, but the softness was still radiating out of Roman’s body, messing up his thought process, and indecisiveness stopped him from doing much of anything.

Their held each other’s eyes, awkwardly aware of the other’s presence, and Roman was the first one to move, huffing to himself as he threw the paper bag in the trash, like he hadn’t just been yearning while holding it.

\- Must have taken too long, to drag the Overlord of Darkness from his confinement.

There was a tingle of hopefulness in Roman’s voice, as if, despite getting caught singing some sappy song Virgil had promptly forgotten about, he was happy that he was around, that he cared about the prince- that he knew that Virgil cared about him, and that made staring at Creativity that much more awkward.

\- Pff, yea – the floor was suddenly so interesting. – Totally didn’t think that you had choked and died in here or something stupid like that.

The silence dragged out for much longer than necessary, in his opinion. The anxious side couldn’t dare to meet his eyes, almost afraid of what he’d find staring back at him, and just as he was about to take a step closer to go grab the popcorn and run back to the comfort of his room, Roman made the first move, the heel of his boot clicking pleasantly against the tiled floor. The familiar intake of breath that the dramatic prince always did before he proceeded to sing his heart out followed not too long after that, and with his arms stretched out, he offered his best smile, encouraging Virgil to look at him.

\- My dearest friend, if you don't mind – he started, his singing voice laced in comfort, and the emo immediately recognized the song, snapping his head in his direction to watch his posture. - I'd like to join you by your side.

\- Princey, what-

\- Where we can gaze into the stars...– Roman kept going, impressively holding the right tempo, and acting out every second he could, his arms drifting smoothly across the air.

If Virgil didn’t know better, he’d say that he was using magic to make himself look better.

It was ridiculous, and over the top, bursting out into a singing number when things got too awkward to be dealt with in a normal way, but as Creativity stepped closer, still holding all of that tenderness and endearment in his gaze, Virgil considered that perhaps he had realized... just how worried the anxious side had gotten, and was attempting to ease his nerves in the only way he knew how. The prince was enough of an idiot to do that, anyways. And that melted his cold heart just a little bit.

They both knew that it was Sally’s queue next, that it was when she joined the song and her ragged, tattered doll body ended up meeting halfway with Jack’s lanky arms, and maybe that was why Princey was dragging out the quiet for longer than necessary; the expectation clear in his expressions as his arms stretched out further in encouragement. And Virgil couldn’t say no to that.

He quietly mumbled the next line, tense shoulders showing how sheepish he was over the whole thing, especially because it had not come out nearly as professionally as Roman did it, but the prince didn’t stop the song to reprimand him over it, simply radiant over the fact that Anxiety had joined him anyways, and before they knew it, they were standing a few steps away from each other, the fanciful side towering over the emo by a few inches, and Virgil forcibly ignored how much they fitted the characters they were singing as in favor of enjoying this moment.

He was so lost in the act that, by the time Roman brought his big hands up, his inviting royal palms filled with promises of safety and comfort, Virgil took them without thinking twice of it, the warmth immediately contrasting with his cold fingers. Princey didn’t seem to mind it- smiling more at it, if anything.

\- For it is plain as anyone can see – the prince held his hands, leaving a comfortable space between them as they harmonized together. - We're simply meant to be...

The melody that followed the lyrics filled in the silence between them, softly echoing in their heads as they simply stared at each other, and Virgil almost leaned closer, almost let himself imagine how it would have felt if Roman hugged him and kissed him, just like it had happened at the end of the movie.

The fanciful side pressed a light kiss to his knuckles before gently letting go of his hands.

If Anxiety wasn’t so dazed and blind by all the glitter coloring his vision, perhaps he would have noticed how incredibly guilty Roman looked, as he stepped away to fetch the cooling bowl of popcorn. He muttered something, followed by that laugh that the royal only did when he was starting to get uncomfortable with the thoughts running through his head, and in his lilac state, Virgil barely felt any regret or suffering over reaching his hand for one of Roman’s, gently pulling it away from the bowl so he could lace their fingers together.

\- Let’s just go back to my room, you idiot.

He wasted only his energy as he abruptly pulled Princey to sink out with him, back into the familiar darkness. His abandoned phone on the bed was almost ignored as Virgil all but dragged Creativity back to their previous spot, tugging on him to sit down on the dark duvet, only to be on the receiving end of the unexpected cuddles.

Roman barely knew how to react , now that he his whole left arm was permanently lost to Virgil’s visceral koala grip, but one thing was certain: he couldn’t say that he hated the affections.

When the anxious side had stared at him in the kitchen, his gorgeous dark brown eyes and long lashes framed by all of that lilac, the dirtiest brand of thoughts ran through the prince’s head at his words, making him feel more than unworthy to ever step into his quarters again, but _thankfully_ he had been thoroughly mistaken on the intentions behind his invite, and the cuddles were helping to subdue some of that.

He could definitely get used to this, Roman noticed fondly, as he leaned into the affections heartily offered.

**Author's Note:**

> The plan for this completely changed half way through. If you dont mind me explaining my personal life to strangers on the internet, I was crushing hard over my best friend for a few months, and all the daydreaming was slightly getting to me, so I decided to dump all of the emotions i was in denial about into a fic. I.e., projecting into Roman just because I could. I kid you not, I was genuinely convinced that wanting to hold your best friend close, and gently brush their hair away from their face while fondly singing to them was the most normal platonic thing.
> 
> I wanted to sorta introduce the topic to them by showing them the draft for this, cuz even I was starting to see the suspicion through the cracks, but then we ended up confessing to each other anyways, so things worked out in the end asvahddjk
> 
> They still really liked the oneshot. And yes, we are both extremely gay.


End file.
